The Mind of Babes
by Wondermorena
Summary: Single parents and occasional frenemies Miss French and Mr. Gold are trying to get through the holiday season without getting awkward towards one another. Rumbelle Secret Santa 2015


**Good Morning everyone, this is my RSS gift for ThePlasticView. Where she expressed it to be Christmas Lights and Rivalry, I hope this meets her expectations and wishing everyone a wonderful Christmas**

Although the clock had not chimed yet to midnight, Mr. Gold thought another hour for Baedan or affectionately known as Bae to be up would not have hurt anyone. Even the twelve year old boy agreed as he headed straight onto the television looking for anything interesting to find on Netflix while Gold went into the kitchen to prepare cocoa. As he went into the other side of the kitchen to grab the nutmeg, Baedan already wrapped up in his Batman fleece blanket ran pass him going into the pantry picking up the graham crackers and large marshmallows turning his attention to the back cabinet to find Mr. Gold already had a large bowl ready for him.

"Thanks papa, come on the movie is starting soon" the boy replied returning into the living room with the television somewhat mute.

It never ceased to amaze Mr. Gold how energetic Baedan could be on a daily basis that it was miracle he was able to keep up as much as he was even with the limp. Perhaps being home during the winter break allowed the boy to have an unlimited amount of energy as he was finally sleeping all day seven days a week until Mr. Gold would have to remind him to at least work on his daily chores at least go outside to do something productive than staying home to binge on Netflix and play video games. At the end of the day, Neal was a good kid being a normal kid with hobbies and social activities which Gold had to sometimes keep track of as he constantly wondered how it was possible for his son to remember everything he was doing without the aid of a planner of a phone as the kids are using those nowadays.

Since Baedan and Mr. Gold had returned from the library this evening, Gold had noticed something was off with Neal. Usually it would be avoiding him for more than five minutes or changing the subject in a subtle manner whenever Gold asked him about his day or if he had anything huge planned recently. He had hoped there wasn't a fight between him and little Rose French or Tink as most people called her for reason he could not quite fathom as he noticed those two were mainly together throughout the Christmas Party her mother had thrown to celebrate the success of the annual Christmas Fundraiser the library always has that consists of selling homemade baked goods throughout the town in order to raise money for the new books the library would get for the children's section.

As far as Gold knew, the children were practically inseparable as Tink would always come over to his house to work on a school projects, dinners, sleepovers and an occasional trip with them to the cabin in the wood as she has been doing for the past five years. Lately though she had not come over where in some way Gold might have understood if her mother had forbade it due to the recent dispute they had.

With thoughts going to Miss French, somberly Mr. Gold remembered throughout the party she was also avoiding him at any chance she had. Between either being very social to everyone who participated in the fundraiser or gossiping with Miss Lucas and Miss Fa. She was even chatting with Regina who constantly makes it clear the librarian is not one of her favorite people, not that it was anything he kept tabs on. In order to make it appear she was not trying to avoid him, there was a few seconds of a holiday greeting but it was only during the beginning as Miss French was genuinely a nice person who would greet anyone even during the holidays.

Gold could understand if Belle did not want to speak him but he hoped the friendship of their children would not be compromised.

The stove off, Mr. Gold began to get the drinks ready for him and Baedan as he gathered the tray containing a little bowl filled with little marshmallows, a teapot filled with hot cocoa and two tea cups. He headed towards the living room finding the television paused to the studio logo and hearing a soft breathing sound coming from the couch. He then placed the tray into the coffee table to find the source already beginning to annoy him.

Baedan who made a fuss about staying up for another hour on the car ride home now was dead asleep on the couch wrapped around a Batman blanket.

There was no point in having a little movie night if Baedan was already sleeping but he knew the couch was not that comfortable for him as there were the few complaints he had the next morning about his neck and back giving him knots.

"Bae, wake up. Time for bed" Gold spoke softly, lightly brushing his hand onto the boy's shoulders.

Neal slightly groaned, "No, let me stay up. I haven't caught up on the recent season of _Gotham_ "

Gold chuckled at the mindset Baedan had. "Tomorrow you need to help me cook and then you can watch as much _Gotham_ as you want. Come on sleepyhead, we will postpone Netflix night for another time. Off to bed" As Baedan was too big for Gold to carry him, he helped the boy get up as he slowly pushed him up the stairs and into his room seeing a little head sulking down a few times. Baedan drudgingly plopped into bed not bothering to get under the covers only having his blanket to cover him where the house was in a moderate temperature to allow minimal blankets being used for the night.

"Sleep tight Bae". Stated Gold as he heard only a loud groan as a response, he was sure the boy will forgive him in the morning with a little bit of extra bacon and chocolate chips to go with the pancakes he will prepare later on.

A second later, he closed the bedroom door which followed by a loud knock at the door.

 _Who could that be? Don't some people have better things to do at this hour?_ Gold already realized the light on the living room could be seen outside therefore this person would not stop until he answered. Loosening his tie, he headed back downstairs now becoming more fatigue with wanting nothing more than to go to bed. He would be sure that whoever was knocking would have a very rude Christmas and a rent increase for the New Year.

With a sigh and speech prepared that would rival that of the Grinch, Gold opened the door ready to lay it all out. To his surprise, his mind drew a blank at the sight of his unexpected guest.

"What are you doing here so late?.."

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 **Three Weeks Earlier**

Christmastime in Storybrooke was always a stressful time as most of the town would be spending doing the Christmas traditions or setting up shop for the customers arriving almost two or three times a week until many of the window displays would consists of empty tablecloths or naked mannequins. Even Granny began to have her diner opened for a full twenty hours after Thanksgiving so as to give some of the late night shoppers a bit of caffeine for their morning's excursions.

The madness of the town had not stopped Mr. Gold from conducting his usual day to day activities. One of which was to gather rent from most of his properties where he was surprised they would find time to gather money for both rent and shopping while some still yelled at him for taking away their livelihoods. One even went as far as to shout how he will put half his tenant out on the streets by Christmastime.

If they were going to spend nearly $600 on buying new kitchen appliances that were not going to be used as well as do endless shopping, then having an extra $1000 saved up for rent would be a high priority.

It was days such as this Gold's headaches were not getting better as he was grateful his next stop would be the library. It might have been close to reading hour which meant Miss French was not completely swamped but she would perhaps start getting annoyed he would show up at a time when she was somewhat busy. At best, their relationship would be considered complicated as while their children were friends for one another these two were more known for their snarky retorts to one another that most of the town deduced Baedan and Tink were the younger version of Romeo and Juliet. Both Mr. Gold and Miss French did get along as two civil would but their interaction only ever consisted with polite light conversation and arrangements for their children to interact with one another whenever one of them would go the other person's house.

Gold walked into the library where to his surprise it was mainly empty expect with Miss French at the reception desk with her nose on a book completely engrossed by it from the looks of how her face stared down on it which allowed Gold to smile a bit as he saw her expressions change a few times while turning some of the pages.

Alas, he needed to interrupt her time of solitude. "Miss French, a moment." He asked getting her attention.

Belle looked up giving her one of her warm smiles causing Mr. Gold to feel unease as he always felt awkward whenever he would come near the library whose namesake matched her in both appearance and personality.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Gold. I trust your day is going well?" she asked placing a wilted rose onto the spot where she was reading as she closed her book.

"More or less satisfactory, I assume you have something for me?" He looked towards the librarian who ducked into a drawer under the desk. Hearing a bit of rummaging coming from the items, Gold walked a bit further towards her direction as he heard some light profanities coming from her direction that would have caused even Granny to start blushing which he was certain where more a whisper following by some unintelligible responses.

 _It seems the distinguished Miss French as a bit of a sailor streak in her._

"Are you sure that is where you last saw it?" Gold asked in both a sincere and amusing tone causing Belle to look up at him flustered with her face turning into a frown as her nose began to crinkle followed by a twitch which made her look so adorable.

"I know I put the check here. Unlike the other tenants who you seem to always have a problem with, I am responsible with managing my finances" she stated in a defensive tone causing Gold to raise an eyebrow as Belle's palms began to sweat with her arms quivering a bit. "On second thought, let me go look in my office."

Walking out of the reception desk, Belle started walking a little faster towards her office in the back with her high heels clicking onto the floor giving Gold a great view of her legs and rear in which he could not help but feel like an old lecher leering at a woman who was a good fifteen years his junior. It sadly reminded him that he was still a man even if the rest of the town wanted to see him as something out of a horror movie. A few minutes later, Belle walked out of her office with a manila envelope in her hand handing it to him with smirk on her face that puzzled the landlord although he tried his best to appear as aloof as he could.

"You know the library just started up its annual Holiday Fundraiser." Smiling in a coyly where Gold could have sworn he saw Miss French batting her eyelashes. "I am sure any donation you give would be tremendously wonderful." Belle leaned over causing the pair to be so close to one another there was no room to move.

Gold could not help but admire her audacity as her heels hide her height well but made her a formidable force in a challenge. At times he wondered why they haven't gotten on better terms as she could be as good as a dealmaker as he was.

With the proper training of course.

Sadly Gold realized the time and whatever spell he might have believed she was entrancing him with began to wear off. "I would love to but at the moment I am rather busy so any donation would be out of my hands. Although I am sure there will be other days and many other ways you can convince me."

His smirk followed by tone changed Belle's expression as she straightened herself into a more stern composure one would expect from a stereotypical librarian.

"I am sure you will, have a pleasant evening Mr. Gold." Belle smiling back to him with all the sincerity of a snake as she walked back not trying to show her flustered stated as Gold walked out of the library mentally laughing to himself as he went to his car to pick up Neal from school.

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Over the next few days, both Mr. Gold and Miss French began avoiding each other. To the rest of the town, it had not appeared as though there was anything out of the ordinary whereas Baedan and Tink began to notice the strangeness between their parents even to the point where their daily routines had begun to be affected by it.

"Is your dad threatening to kick us out of the apartment?" asked Tink as she and Baedan were looking up flavors at the _Any Given Sundae_ creamery. The creamery was not as busy due to the cold weather where Tink and the owner a jovial blonde who went by Ingrid both agreed the cold air was always the best time for ice cream. Baedan usually thought she was mad but it meant a free treat so he wasn't complaining.

"I don't think so, although he usually doesn't tell me who is going to be evicted. Why do you ask?"

"I don't know to be honest." Tink shrugged "Momma's been acting weird the past week by reading romance novels and running around in circles. She only does that whenever she's interacting with your dad."

Confused, Baedan focused on getting to his order of a birthday cake on a waffle while Tink ordered her usual strawberry shortcake on a sprinkle cone. "Your mom is a big bookworm so reading romance doesn't seem to be weird"

"You know how in _Legally Blonde_ Ellie was eating bon bons after Warner broke up with screaming 'liar' to the tv'?"

"Yeah…and?"

"Well picture that expect the bon bons are replaced with books"

As they got their treats, Baedan began to have the image of Belle in the way that Tink described where he looked back at his friend with some pity as her expression was a bit of sadness and annoyance. He cheered her up by giving a bit of his ice cream to her a sprinkled mustache with Baedan having a pink one. Tink started to laugh at seeing how silly Baedan can be where she needed to take away the spoon from him before he tripped and would have had made a mess on the floor.

"Okay…that does seem to be a weird. Although I doubt papa is getting rid of anyone, and to be honest: he keeps asking me how you guys are doing where I ask and he starts to change the subject immediately. It's actually kind of funny."

Tink starts to laugh with the image of Mr. Gold being flustered. The kids leave the creamery heading towards the pawnshop as Baedan remembered there were some items in the back of the shop that he is suppose to give to Miss French for charity.

Baedan sees the shop is closed but uses his spare key in order to get in. Surprised to not find his papa in but it was to expect judging by the time. He heads over to the curtain noticing Tink is fascinated by an old wooden music box with a fairy wearing green dancing.

"That box isn't finished yet.." he replied as Tink rapidly closed the box putting it away pretending the box meant nothing to her. Baedan rolled his eyes not bothering to deal with Tink being weird on him, he then notices the boxes next to the cot where one of them was sure to be the list of items he needed.

"Hey what is that over there?" asked Tink pointing to a shroud on the work desk where a can of finish is standing next to it. She goes to look under the shroud causing Baedan to pull her shirt out of the way of the shroud.

"No no, papa's table is off limits. He starts to go mad whenever his projects are touched or broken." Tink understood as she left the back room, Baedan followed a few minutes later grabbing the box on the left side of the cot handing it over to his friend in letting her know if she can find better uses for it than he or his papa could as they went on their separate paths for the remainder of the day.

When Tink got home to the apartment above the library, she could already smell the baked lasagna that was nearly ready. She found her mom nearby the tree trying to wrap up a few presents.

"Hey Rose, dinner will be ready in a few. What you got there?" Belle pondered as Tink put the box on the already messy living area filled up with wrapping paper and scotch tape.

"Bae gave it to me. Something about charity items you requested"

"Oh yes thank you. Hand me the scissors over there" Tink did as she was asked giving the scissors seeing Belle open up the box where as they kept inspecting it, Tink started to worry she might accidently break something just by looking at it.

The items were expensive looking or completely fragile with a few figurines of a couple from the 18th century with a woman wearing a gold ball gown and the male wearing a blue waistcoat. Another item was a snow globe of a snowman with a creepy looking smile as it opens its arms for an embrace. A few articles of clothing and a set of Christmas lights with an anchor design to them

"Is Mr. Gold some kind of pirate and this is his last source from his old life which is why he wanted us to get of this stuff?" asked Tink looking at some of the times trying to see the state if they fit where Belle look at her in a weird way. "What even Baedan sometimes thinks his dad has a secret life or a cool past life like he was in the mafia or something"

Belle contained her best to not laugh at her daughter's comments who was ready have a pouting match. "I don't know could be. Although I want to keep a few of these items and the rest will be given away. What do you think?"

Tink looked at the items carefully. The clothes were nothing special and some of the figurines were that important. "Okay, how about the Christmas lights and the figurines?" handing them carefully onto Belle's lap.

"I like them too"

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To Belle's amazement, her charity fundraiser had gotten a bit of support. There became a snag within the first few days as Granny politely asked the librarian to not sell baked goods anymore so as to not harm her business. Belle understood as she knew Granny wanted her to succeed so the next option became was to sell the candles from the convents inventory which to her surprise the Mother Superior was more than happy to so (at least that was Leroy and Astrid had told her when the handed in the boxes). She tried not to question it but for holiday season it had made sense for candles.

There was also a series of mysterious checks which arrived on her mailbox that came from a national bank addressed in Boston but she still felt unease until calling the bank itself to confirm the checks belong to a client of theirs who had instructed them to deliver a certain amount for the remainder of the month. Whoever this person was, Belle was sure they would definitely be writing this onto their taxes as the dollar amount went to the three digits within the first day.

Belle went into her during her lunch break rather than going to Granny in order to check her itinerary. As she went in, the librarian looked directly at the figurines Bae gave her on the opposite ends of the upper portion of her desk. Immediately something within Belle made her feel sad towards the figurines as when she got them they were together and the happy expressions they carried looked genuine. Now they appeared hollow but that was to be expected in seeing porcelain objects.

It also had not helped the figurines themselves reminded her of their previous owner. If Belle was sincere, she wanted to gain the friendship of Mr. Gold as it felt strange how their children were so in synch with one another and yet she could never say anything to him other than polite conversation. Other than making sure Rose would be happy for the Christmas season as she always did without a second thought; a bit of a hope Belle had was for her relationship with the private relationship to be different than a cordial acquaintanceship.

At times it was funny how requests came in unexpected matters.

"Miss French, I need to speak to you right away!" demanded Mr. Gold surprising Belle whilst she helping out the Zimmer children in having their books checked out.

"Be right with you Mr. Gold" she said in a polite tone which took him back a bit. Belle believed in the concept of "indoor and outdoor" voices where the library was not a place for people to start yelling even if they needed her attention. If she wasn't busy she would have asked him to leave and talked to her after she was done working as a lesson to not disrespect her rules in her place of work. The kids left a few a seconds afterwards where Belle opened the hatch of the reception desk letting Mr. Gold know to follow her into her office.

She offered for him to sit down as he politely decline followed by Belle closing the door. "Now that you have my attention what wa…"

Gold interrupted. "Where did you get those Christmas lights?" His face looked as though he was about to burst a vein the heavy breathing he induced.

Now Belle was confused about the matter. "Uhhh….I got them from the box I asked for you to send for the charities. Baedan was the one who sent them."

"Take them out now…"

"Why?"

"Because I want you to"

"Mr. Gold, I'm sorry but I like these lights in how they look at the library. Even Rose thought they were cute." Hoping that would have calmed him down.

"It is no concern of mine whether a child loves them or not. They are gaudy and should not be on display in a building that I own."

Now Belle's patience started to become tested. _The nerve of this man_. "Well I am sorry to hear that Mr. Gold I have not heard a single complaint of them in the three days they have been up. Also you might have realized by now, the building may be yours, but the library itself is city sponsored where I don't have to listen you other than giving you checks every week solely for building upkeeps."

"Then as owner of the building, this would include as part of the building upkeep" hoping she would get the message.

"No it doesn't. This is just goes under Mr. Gold in being a petulant child in not having things going his way. I suppose you want to go inside my apartment and decide what is not appropriate to be put on display, are my outfits too inappropriate to be in my closet or would you just decide it is no longer relevant for Rose and I to live up there because having a librarian live in the apartment where she works would be considered too gaudy don't you think?"

"Now Miss French you are the one who is being unreasonable. I only want those lights out because they are an eyesore where I don't want to be anywhere near here until they are gone." Realized what Gold had just said, he flinched as he noticed Belle had done the same.

She went past him trying her best not to make it obvious the tear beginning to seep out of her eyes. Opening the door and having an arm gesture pointing outside. "Then I suppose we won't see each other until after the New Year then. Have a wonderful Christmas Mr. Gold"

Feeling as though the rug was pulled out under him, Mr. Gold complied with Belle's wishes leaving the office before giving her one last look. Each looking at one another with regret over the last several minutes; neither saying anything as Gold walked out leaving Belle unable to breathe. She closed the door going into a drawer close to her computer containing her water bottle. Gathering the sips of water needed, Belle sat on her chair and began to cry.

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After that incident, both Gold and Belle made sure to keep their promises. At one point Belle thought it would have been a good idea to have Tink no longer associate with Baedan but she loved the boy as though he were a second child which made the whole ordeal upsetting for her. She did not want to punish her daughter for Mr. Gold's stupidity and Baedan did not deserve to get involved in this. So it was best for Belle to keep silent but she became withdrawn from her usual activities only doing them on autopilot. She and Tink continued to do their Christmas shopping and holiday festivities but it was best for Baedan to not have shown up where at point Belle had no idea what to say him. She even avoided her office so as to not cry whenever she saw the figurines.

Mr. Gold had not faired any better from the incident either. He started spending longer hours in the shop either tinkering the items he was trying to fix but failing to no avail. It also had not helped he would spend a few days in the week going into study after dinner, locking himself in while nursing a scotch but not drinking himself even though the occasion was appropriate.

Wallowing in self-pity, Gold began spending all the energy he had in making sure Baedan would be completely happy.

A few days afterwards, he had taken the boy to Boston on a shopping spree where even Baedan could tell he was trying too hard in spoiling him. Still he was not going to complain if it meant getting a few new games for his PS4 so he complied towards only five different games rather than the splurge Mr. Gold had hoped for.

After the trip to Boston, Baedan avoided his father for the rest of the day as he saw a series of texts that he could not help but laugh at seeing someone else was just as miserable as him. Picking up his phone, Baedan became relieved in hearing Tink finally had some time to herself after spending the afternoon shopping with Emma Nolan and Lily Page

"Hey, how was Boston? We missed you today. Well I didn't but a certain swan did…." Tink teased Baedan o where she could believe he was blushing on the other end.

He was blushing but tried to gain his composure. "Really…what did she say? Uhh…I mean I don't care. Emma is your friend so it doesn't matter. Although seriously what did she say about me?"

Tink began to start laughing. "You've got it bad. She only wanted to know about your likes and dislikes so I said anything with superheroes and Bae will be happy."

"Thanks Tink you're a life saver…"

"I expect to be the best girl at this wedding and you're welcome. So on a scale of one to ten, how grounded are you?" she asked.

Immediately he knew what she was talking about. "Not grounded actually, papa just told me that the box I gave you was the wrong one and to send the correct one to the library again. To be honest I thought you were grounded."

"Sorry to have disappointed you. Although I wish our parents would be adults about this whole thing." As Tink made her confession she started looking at an old drawing Baedan gave her for her eight birthday which contained him, her and their parents behind the pink Victorian where Tink was always surprised for a boy of his age at the time to be so detailed in the drawing than he needed to be.

What she loved about the drawing the most was the little inscription her friend wrote on the steps of the porch that simply said " **Our Family** ". The only ones who knew about the drawing's existence were solely her and Baedan as she didn't want her mom to get the wrong idea.

"Yeah well that doesn't seem to be happening anytime soon. Although between you and me, you are going to have a fun Christmas" He told Tink all about the shopping trip and mostly about the presents his papa had bought for both her and Belle that were currently hidden in the study which he was needed to pretend they had not existed. He smiled as he began telling all about the hour they spent at Sidney Thomas where Gold discussed to the saleswoman about the perfect necklace as he described Belle the same way he would have thought about Emma expect on the comparisons of the eyes.

Now Tink was convinced of her theory as she placed her drawing back in her shoebox under her bed. Happy she had not been crazy the past five years. "I think momma feels the same way too but neither of them are speaking to one another…."

A moment later a lightubulb flashed on Baedan's head as he looked at the time realizing his plan will have to wait tomorrow morning as the rule as not to leave the house after dark without adult supervision. "Okay I have a plan but its going to have to involve you leaving something big here and a trip to the supermarket."

It took a few minutes for Tink to figure out where Bae was going with this but something left her puzzled. "Why the supermarket?"

With a wide grin similar to his father streaming on his face, Bae already needed to get his plan ready. "You will see…" He stated in a sing-song tone.

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Regardless of being shocked of Miss French being at his door at midnight on Christmas Eve, Mr. Gold more worried about the state she was in. The weather outside was below zero at best and all she had on was her dark blue cocktail dress from the evening and blue heels with no stocking only a black trenchcoat as the closest she had for warmth.

"I'm sorry Mr. Gold but the light was on and I was wondering…" placing her hand on her pockets as they started to get numb from the cold.

Stunned but Gold eventually snapped himself back to reality. "Uh yes, of course…come in" She walked in to the house placing her coat on the hanger, already feeling the warmth of the house bringing her body temperature up. "Would you like something to drink, there is some hot cocoa still warm I believe."

"That would be great, thank you" He offers her a seat pouring her a cup which to his surprise was still hot as he placed marshmallows onto the drinks. "Actually I came here because Rose said she left her scarf the last time she came over. I needed to get the library cleaned up so she's currently staying with my father but calls me up insisting that her scarf was in your house. I hope you weren't sleeping as I didn't have time to call"

"No it's fine; Bae and I had just gotten home when I put him to bed when you showed up. I think her scarf is in study. Excuse me for a second." Gold leaves as Belle begins waiting already drinking two cups as though the substance had been water instead.

Her nerves were getting the best of her in being at the pink house. The entire time at the Christmas party, she tried all she could do to avoid Gold while at the same time wanting to apologize. It was to her amazement Ruby and Mulan kept pulling her into their gossip as she spent the majority of the night hearing about Mulan's recent engagement to a talkative redhead by the name of Merida. Although Belle and Ruby are kind of iffy with Merida as they find her a bit annoying and sometimes in your face, they both accepted her as being someone who Mulan had loved. Belle started to be moved to tears hearing how they cared for one another despite both coming from opposites ends of the world in every aspect they all could think of.

The last two weeks of her not speaking to Gold left Belle confused and hurt as she started to realize how she wanted this man in her life. Throughout the party she could he looked just as lost as he was. Perhaps it was not too late to find out. Seeing as Gold was taking too long, Belle took a deep breath and walked over the other rooms to find her host. She knocked the door finding Mr. Gold sitting behind a desk looking about as tired and nervous as she was.

"I'm sorry" they both said at the same time causing Gold to jump walking towards her. Belle felt a sense of relief said the words.

"Rose loved the lights and I wanted to make her happy, knowing they came from you gave us a bit of an inside joke about how you are perhaps a pirate of some sort with all your antiques both in your home and shop"

Now Gold wanted to have an anvil dropped in his head for the way he treated Belle. Looking straight at her, Gold began to feel as though his throat was closing up as he took a deep breath to continue. "Milah…Bae's mother bought them because she thought they were a funny joke. At the time I thought she was mad followed by a few months afterwards she ran off with a sailor. Bae was only one at the time where I tell him his mother is dead to make it easier for him." As he told this to Belle, she realized it did explain his behavior and wanted to do all in her power to comfort him. "I just saw those lights in the library bringing so many memories mainly the unhappy ones from that marriage where I thought you were mocking me by placing them but I realized you could not have known but I was too much of a coward to apologize."

"Is that why you started sending me money from your bank in Boston as part of your charitable contribution? As a way to apologize?" He turned away as soon as she mentioned it but was about to say something when Belle interrupted him. "I didn't, your face said it all. Although I had some suspicions because I needed to be sure they weren't fakes. You have no idea how much this means to me."

He touched her arm and Belle looked up to see Gold start to show tears in his eyes. Before anyone realized, they hugged with Belle wrapping her arms completely to him. Gold could not love the warmth she brought buryin his face on her chestnut hair smelling her perfume consisting of roses and lemons.

"I do. You deserve every good thing that can happen to a person. I want to see you happy, please tell what you want and it will be yours sweetheart." Gold stopped to look at the tiny woman finding comfort in his arms. She moved standing approximate to him pressing her lips to his.

Gold closed his eyes molding his lips onto hers. She pulled him tighter to her with one hand playing with his hair and the other scratching the nape of his neck. Gold was immediately aroused by the sensation hoping this was not a dream that would be interrupted any second.

The kiss ended with the pair opening this eyes seeing the other person was still there with now both realizing they were standing in new territory. "I just want you. For the past 12 years I have lived my life solely for Rose where even my father tends to criticize me about how it's not healthy for a woman my age to be locked away from the world. At times my friends can feel sympathetic but the person who had managed to help me with my daily stresses where I can smile a little better when I get home to that beautiful little girl has been the man who the entire town believes to be a monster. He isn't…you are a good man and I want to know if we can go somewhere with this."

"Miss French…I…"

"Belle" correcting him

Smiling back at her. "Belle, I have spent the past few years pretending to myself I felt nothing for you and I believe both you and Rose deserve much better than a crippled bastard with a teenage son and baggage."

Belle began rolling her eyes at the assumption. "My daughter is the same age as Bae. I am very much old enough to make decisions that I believe are within my best interests. Plus I think getting pregnant at the age of 19 by a boy who was not ready to be a father would at least count as some levels of baggage. Seriously I am not going to have a "my issues are bigger than yours contest" with you Mister…oh my god, I don't even know your first name. Some relationship we have…" they started laughing at one another in which Gold took Belle's hands placing his lips towards them all while staring at her with love.

"Calum, my name is Calum"

They kissed on another again with more force as Belle began fumbling with the remains of the tie still hanging on Gold's neck. He started placing one of his hands towards her hair taking the pins out allowing her curls to become loose as Gold began playing with a few strands of her hair. Gold's lips began leaving Belle's as he placed soft kisses down towards her neck, each kiss brought another passionate moan from Belle pushing his head closer towards her neck.

"Bed…please Calum. Take me to bed…" Gold stopped looking at Belle with her hair in a mess, lipstick somewhat smeared and eyes glossing with a few love bites on her collarbone. Looking at him as though he where dinner, Belle smiled back at him giving Gold all the reassurance he needed.

They left the study with their lips continuing to lock into one another, Belle blindly following Gold's lead all while they started taking off what few articles of clothing they manage to try between the first floor and the hallway of the second floor until they headed to the master bedroom as Belle still in her dress but was unzipped with the sleeves draping off the shoulders and Gold in trousers and an unbuttoned dress shirt.

They stopped kissing to catch their breaths. Both had not wanted to waste any more time left as they rapidly pulled off all remaining articles of clothing.

The outside world would not intrude on them as they saw each other through the little amount of light seeping in from the curtains. It appeared any thoughts of doubt had left the room. Neither cared about whatever sense of problems would arrive.

He was hers

And she was his

That was all that mattered

As they started catching their breaths, it came to Belle's realization her car was still in the parking lot where the snow perhaps increased again by another few inches. She laughed at the thought letting Gold as he could see her worries.

"If you want, I can drive you back home or to your father's. Do you need to go now?"

"No it's fine, I'm just thinking I really came to pick up a scarf and now I'm wondering where do we go from here?" She could see he was just as troubled by this where she kissed him again to reassure him once again.

"Bae complains I always cook too much where he ends up eating ham until the New Year's." Belle sits up trying to see where he is getting at, "I would love it if you and Rose would spend Christmas Day with us. That is if you are not too busy?"

"Are you sure Bae won't mind?"

"I doubt it, if anything the more the merrier"

"Well I have to meet my father this afternoon and get some last thing ready. Oh wait how will we explain what I am doing here? Not that I am ashamed but I don't know how Bae will feel about it just yet. I don't want anything weird to happen between the two of you"

He could not help but find Belle so adorable as she was already worried about making an impression towards his son. "We can just tell him your car had some trouble and you needed to spend the night at the last minute." Gold pulled Belle on top of him, kissing her profusely, "I love you Belle"

Smiling back to him. "I love you too"

They went on for another round this time in a slower pace until they both became completely exhausted. Gold held Belle closer to him as she began to regain her breathing with another kiss. Snuggling closer to him, Belle rested on his chest now glistening from sweat letting sleep finally take over after relaxing to the sound of his heartbeat.

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As the lovers in the master bedroom where sound asleep in each other's arms, Baedan felt the discomfort from sleeping with his face completely on the pillow in a horizontal positon on the bed. He began to wake up seeing it was still dark outside with twinge of a dry mouth. He moved towards his nightstand finding his cell phone telling him it was half past five in the morning.

Feeling a bit of a headache, the boy got up heading over to his desk where there was a case of plastic water bottles. Seeing how his curtains were opened, it explained why he got up as the street lights reflected the most from the viewpoint of his room. He began to drink his water hearing nothing but the plastic crunching up until all the water was completely gone. When he threw the bottle in the trash container, the light from the window gave Baedan a better look at his desk where he noticed an item was next to his laptop that should not have been there.

The mistletoe he bought from the supermarket the other day had not yet been set up.

Baedan began mentally kicking himself as he realized his and Tink's plan in setting their parent had failed. Throughout the entire fundraiser, both him and Tink were telling each other about the steps of the plan in which she would stay with her grandfather asking her mother if she could bring back her favorite scarf from the Gold residence. He would pretend to have fallen asleep in order for give them time alone when Belle would arrive, they notice the mistletoe kiss and everything would be fine.

Although now the mistletoe had never been set up but he had heard Belle arrived earlier but he was in reality too tired to have noticed and crashed just after his father close his bedroom door.

Perhaps he can think of another plan, there was always another way out of these situations. Going over to his phone, Bae notice two sets of text coming from Tink

 _ **12:20 am: Hey Bae, momma is on her way to your house to pick up my sweater. Basically she will text me a good night when she gets home. Crossing fingers**_

 _ **2:30 am: Momma never sent me a text even though her phone is still on. Let me know if anything is going on.**_

Getting worried perhaps something went wrong, Baedan called Belle's cell phone which a few seconds later he thought he heard a loud buzz coming everytime he heard a ring on the phone. He called the phone again noticing the direction of the loud buzz went straight onto the stairs and towards the living room. He started going downstairs into the kitchen seeing the kitchen table had a cell phone buzzing with the screen name of Baedan ringing back.

 _Will let Tink know then I'm going back to bed._ He rapidly headed back to his room nearly tripping on the side of the stairs.

Trying to find the source, Baedan carefully looked around finding the item to be small blue pump with thin heels. It hit him a few seconds later the shoe was the same as the one Belle wore at the party.

 _Yes our plan work!_ Running back up the stairs in the room, Bae thought he would call Tink later of the good news. Then it hit again, he picked up a shoe on the foot of the stairs…..

 _Wait…our plan worked…..ewww!_

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For the Christmas, Belle and Tink came over the mansion in which they opened the remainder of their presents, ate a dinner that convinced Belle she would let Gold be in charge of the kitchen for the holidays and kids played on the PS4 as Belle and Gold snuggled up in the patio contemplating where to go from there.

One year after previous events, the Victorian Mansion up on the hill successfully gained two more residents. Over the next few weeks, Belle and Gold having family dinners usually prepared in her apartment or his house, a weekend sleepover even separate dates away from the children both in and out of town where they eventually Belle and Tink moved into the house about three months later.

While Belle and Tink enjoyed celebrating the first Christmas with Gold and Baedan, there needed to be time for everyone to settle in processing the new change. There were the looks and judgmental scorns Belle and her daughter mainly receive from the town where they tried their best in not wanting to think about.

One insistence, Tink became taunted for being considered a gold digger in which Emma Nolan came to her defense while Lily beat down several of the bullies using her knowledge of kickboxing. When Sheriff Graham was reported to the area, no one said anything other than Tink was having a hard time partially because they were afraid of Lily going to attack them but also it became evident to Tink the town of Storybrooke was nothing more than judgmental hypocrites.

Another mention was Belle continued to be called several different profanities until many of those who bullied suddenly found themselves to be either fired or homeless. As the town got the message to leave Miss French and Tink alone, Belle needed to plea with her new beau about how it was important for her and her daughter to fight their own battles

"I understand sweetheart but you and Tink are now my family, thus don't deserve any of the scorn due to my association." Pleaded Gold as he soothed Belle's shoulders from the knots she obtained throughout the day.

"Don't worry" reminded Belle. "In a few months, something else will happen or the town will stop caring which would mean we can all be at peace without being compared to that of circus freaks."

Gold understood but he did not have a crystal ball to believe whether Belle could be absolutely sure of the matter.

While there was the constant stress in dealing with the town, both Tink and Baedan were able to adjust without it becoming awkward. Most of the town considered them practically brother and sister where the transition just felt natural causing the kids to easily hang out with the other children as they were always part of the group.

The next Christmas was not without several different hiccups, mainly small things such as Tink and Baedan suffered from a cold snap as Belle and Gold alternated throughout the week in nursing the kids back to health. Many around the town began to ask when they would hear wedding bells between them. Belle would always reply after the embarrassment had left her system "Calum hasn't even asked me yet" in which the kids would look at one another deciding to plea the fifth.

A new tradition Belle and Tink brought over the mansion had been to open one present on Christmas Eve before going to bed. Baedan thought it was a great idea but he started to somber at the realization he could only pick one. To help him with his dilemma, Tink suggested the ones in the section which were easy to look at therefore better to open. They both took turns unwrapping their gifts happy to see what it was.

"A new paint set! Thank you so much Belle" shouted Bae hugging his new mother.

"Oh my god, an actual replica of the 4th Doctor's scarf! Proclaimed Tink. "I will might as well sleep with it, thank you everyone"

The kids went into the living room to leave the parents alone as it was apparent they did not need to see them being romantic every moment of the day.

"Oh Calum, here is the one present I insist you open." Belle hands him a small thin box which could fit the palm of his hand. The box's shape gave him the impression it might be a bracelet but from studying Belle's face, it could be something bigger than a trinket.

"Well let us see what is…" slowly unwrapping the paper which was causing Belle to become annoyed at his as knew he was doing this on purpose. Not wanting to get into a fight, Gold quickly ripped it up opening the box.

In his hand, Gold was holding an EPT test. Looking back at Belle who was still smiling then at the test, there was a sense to faint and celebrate.

"How long?" grabbing Belle into his lap for a kiss.

"Six weeks, we've got a lot to prepare for in time for August." Placing a kiss onto Belle's knuckles while his hand goes into her abdomen thrilled at fact he will become a father again this time with the woman he loves.

"Aye, that we do lassie."

 **The End**


End file.
